Lewis Hamilton made one strange comment about his grid penalty at the Hungarian Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton received a three-grid penalty for impeding McLaren driver Oscar Piastri at the end of Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying.

Hamilton had been due to start alongside the other McLaren of Lando Norris on the front row, but he instead drops to fifth place.

After completing his final lap in Q3, a slow Hamilton blocked Piastri at the first corner, which forced the Australian to abandon his lap.

Lewis Hamilton should have apologised to Oscar Piastri rather than cursing his luck

Writing on Instagram after the investigation had concluded and the penalty was issued, Hamilton said: “Sometimes you just can’t catch a break.”

Losing out on pole was frustrating enough given that Ferrari had been the favourites, but then he dropped to the third row.

Lewis Hamilton has a three-place grid penalty for the Hungarian GP 🚨 What position can he still achieve on Sunday?

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Hamilton added that, ‘after three penalties in three weekends’, it was becoming difficult to stay positive.

In Belgium last time out, the stewards handed the Englishman a five-second penalty for causing a collision with George Russell at the start. At Silverstone, a false start resulted in the same punishment.

Going back further to Monaco, Hamilton was docked five seconds for speeding in the pit lane.

There is definitely an element of misfortune in this run. Russell said the collision with Hamilton was a racing incident, and most in the paddock agreed that the penalty was harsh.

His transgression at the British GP was objective, but still only slight. And in Monaco, several drivers were sanctioned for pit-lane offences due to a measurement dispute.

But it’s still strange to hear Hamilton complain about not getting a ‘break’. As he well knows, world champions make their own luck.

• READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton slams Ferrari for not making ‘the right call’ before Lando Norris took Hungary pole

The mistake at Silverstone was his own and, while the stewards should probably have been more lenient at Spa, Hamilton certainly bore more of the responsibility than Russell.

Ferrari have taken the blame for Hamilton’s penalty in Hungary, so even though it wasn’t the driver’s fault, he can’t necessarily complain about being unfortunate. It was a failure in execution from his side of the garage.

It’s worth remembering as well that Hamilton avoided an unsafe release penalty in Belgium after colliding with a mechanic in the box. Again, not his fault, but a break with precedent.

Hamilton apologised to Piastri in the cockpit immediately after the incident, but there was no sign of that contrition in his social media statement.

Ferrari’s margin for error is extremely small in this season’s title race due to Mercedes’ mechanical advantage.

The reality is that, in the past few weekends, Hamilton and Ferrari haven’t been operating at a championship-winning level, even if his pace has been strong.